They may be thoughts that worry you, memories that reopen old
wounds, or emotions that grasp your attention and won't let
go, like a fear of heights that freezes you along a steep
mountain path.

Thoughts, memories, and emotions are internal, psychological
events that occur without warning. But a curious thing
happens when we react to these events by trying to control
them, by putting them out of our minds or distracting
ourselves with new activities. They become stronger, and
then they trouble us more frequently and more deeply.

That's the surprising conclusion drawn from a new theory of
psychotherapy first outlined in 1987 by Steven Hayes, from
the University of Nevada at Reno. It's a theory put into
practice by a growing legion of psychotherapists whose
enthusiasm for it comes from the benefits they observe in
their clients. These clients report fewer troubling thoughts
that diminish in strength over time and more attention that
they can focus on constructive activities.

The theory is called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
and its most important innovation involves accepting internal
psychological events (thoughts, memories, emotions, and
sensations). Hayes calls it "psychological acceptance," and
it is comprised of two elements: 1) a willingness to
experience negative psychological events fully and freely
without labeling them as bad, and 2) a habit of acting that
does not seek to influence one's feelings. Instead, actions
reflect a person's values, interests, and/or goals. They are
not carried out to help a person feel better.

When people implement this acceptance in their lives, they
find troubling psychological events occurring less
frequently. They find their day-to-day activities more
rewarding. Their mental health improves, and their daily
activities meet with greater success. With positive results
like these to report, the growing popularity of ACT is not
surprising.

Frank Bond is a researcher at the University of London who
studies applied psychology, and he wondered if the positive
effects of psychological acceptance could impact a work
setting with people who don't feel a need for psychotherapy.

In 2000, he developed a stress management program for a large
media firm. In the program, he taught people psychological
acceptance. Then he measured its effect using a general
mental health questionnaire. People who completed the
training scored higher on the survey than those who did not.
The training improved their mental health.

In 2003, Bond completed another study. This latest research
used an ACT survey to identify employees who already used
psychological acceptance in their day-to-day lives. A year
later, employees completed another survey on general mental
health, and those who had scored the highest on the ACT
survey a year earlier also scored highest in general mental
health.

Bond also examined an objective measure of job performance in
this study, and he found a similar pattern. Those who used
psychological acceptance in their day-to-day lives made the
fewest errors in posting accounts (a critical part of their
jobs). Finally, Bond investigated the combined impact of
psychological acceptance and relaxed job control.

When employers relax their control of jobs somewhat,
employees find that they can make decisions about job
activities that used to be dictated to them. This freedom
usually improves employees' work performance, satisfaction,
and general mental health. Bond found that employees who
practiced psychological acceptance also benefited most from
relaxed job control. The combined effect was the strongest.

Bond believes performance improves because people have more
attention they can devote to activities that reflect their
goals and their interests. Being freed from managing their
thoughts and feelings, they apply this new attention in
constructive ways that benefits both their employers and
themselves.

Reference: Bond, Frank W. and David Bunce (2003) The Role of
Acceptance and Job Control in Mental Health, Job
Satisfaction, and Work performance. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 88 (6), 1057-1067.